Ski boot

ABSTRACT

A rigid insole is hinged near its toe end to the outsole of a ski boot. In the heel region of the outsole a device is built-in, acting on the insole so as to lift and lower said insole with respect to the outsole. Manual control means are provided operable from the side of the boot to adjust the said device so as to provide for the desired height displacement of the insole.

1 t 1 ilmte States Patent 11 1 1111 Leonildo Aug. 13, 1974 [54] SK] BOOT 2,212,414 8/1940 Burger 36/81 [76] Inventor: De Faveri Tron Antonio Leonildo, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 287 Vla Camva, AS0101 Italy 2,086,994 12/1971 France 36/25 AL [22] Filed: Apr. 6, 1973 Primary ExaminerPatrick D. Lawson [211 App]' 348619 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Larson, Taylor & Hinds [30] Forelgn Application Priority Data 57] ABSTRACT Apr. 8, 1972 Italy 12590/72 A rigid insole is hinged near its toe end to the outsole [52 [1.8. CI. 36/2.5 AL of a Ski bOOt- In the heel region of the Outsole a device 51 Im. c1. A43b is built-in, acting on the insole so as to lift and lower [58] Field f Search 36/25 R, 5 AL, 3 61 said insole with respect to the outsole. Manual control means are provided operable from the side of the boot [56] References Cited to adjust the said device so as to provide for the de- UNITED STATES PATENTS sired height displacement of the insole.

2,200,493 5/ 1940 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Ehrich 36/81 PAIENIEUMJH sum SHEET 3 [IF 3 SKI BOOT FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the ski boots, and more particularly to a device to be embodied in a ski boot, which assures a perfect adherence of the feet of the ski runner to the ski boots.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known that in order to achieve the best results in ski running, it is necessary to provide for a perfect transmission between the feet of the ski runner and the skis.

The means providing for the said transmission are the bindings between ski boots and skis, and the ski boots, which are controlled by the feet.

The ski bindings have been improved in the past years to such an extent that it may be said that they are actually in condition to provide for a perfect transmission of the efforts from the boots to the skis.

The same cannot be said for the transmission between the feet and the boots, so that this very critical problem has not yet been solved in a satisfactory manner.

The modern ski boots are made of rather hard and not very elastic material, and are provided with metallic closure hooks for lacing the boots to the feet.

The said hooks may be singularly adjusted so as to provide for the best fastening of the boot around the foot.

However, it is impossible by the use of the hooks only, to obtain a perfect adherence of the boots to the feet, as requested by the modern ski running techniques.

It is obvious in fact that the said adherence has to be obtained without exerting an unduly high local compressions on the feet, which could result in circulation diseases in the feet of the ski runner.

In order to obviate to the above inconveniences, it has been proposed to provide the ski boots with a rigid insole, which may be adjusted in height with respect to the outsole so as to firmly press the foot between the said insole and the surrounding boot upper in the closed condition of the ski boot.

According to the above mentioned prior art, the means for adjusting the insole are in the form of one or more screws, which are screwed through the bottom surface of the outsole, up to abutment with the insole, so that by screwing more or less the said screws, the desired adjustment of the insole is achieved.

The above mentioned priorart-devices have the great disadvantage that, in order to obtain the desired adjustment of the insole it is necessary to unbind the boots from the skis and to lift the boots from the soil, in order to accede to the adjusting screws.

This means that the conditions in which the said adjustment is made are not the same at which the boot is intended to be used, apart from the "factthat it is very difficult for the user to make by himself the said adjustment.

For the above and other reasons, the said prior a devices are very objectionable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the above disadvantages of the prior art devices have been obviated by providing in a ski boot comprising a boot upper, an outsole secured'to said upper, and a rigid insole hingedly connected near its toe end to the said outsole, a device built-in in the said outsole in the heel region thereof, and cooperating with the said insole for lifting and lowering same means being provided operable from the external peripheral side of the outsole of said boot for controlling said device so as to adjust said insole with respect to the outsole, with the boot resting on the soil.

According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the said device comprises a housing, a cam rotatably supported in said housing, a lever arm fulcrumed at one end to said housing, bearing with its other end against the bottom surface of the said rigid insole, and bearing with its intermediate portion against said cam, and manually operable control means extending sidewise from said housing to the exterior of the boot and operatively connected to the said cam, for rotating said cam.

According to a still further feature of the invention, means are provided for adjusting the lateral projection of said control means, in order to adapt the said device to boots of different sizes.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more evident from the following description of some embodiments of same, made with ref erence to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION With reference to FIG. 1, the ski boot shown comprises an upper, generally denoted by reference numeral 1 to which the outsole 2 is secured. The ski boot shown 'in FIG. 1 of the kind which is almost generally used today, in which both the upper l and the outsole 2 are made at least partially of plastic material. In a boot of this general kind, the outsole 2 comprises an inner core 3, of plastic material, or of wood, which is embedded into an outer matrix 4 of plastic material, which in turn is integrally bonded to the boot upper 1.

The core 3 is suitably profiled at its periphery in order to be firmly clamped inside of the embeddying :plastic matrix 4 of the outsole.

Above the upper surface of the core 3 of the outsole, an insole S is mounted inside of the boot.

The insole 5 is fonned into two parts, and 205,

hingedly connected together by a hinge 6 extending 5, extends from the hinge 6 up to the counter end of the boot. The said parts 105, 205 of the insole are made of a rigid material, which is strong enough to sustain the weight of the users body, and for instance are made of a sheet of aluminum. On the upper face of the insole 5 a covering 305 of a suitable soft material is provided.

In the heel region of the boot, the core 3 is provided with a recess extending from the upper surface downwardly into the core 3, in which the insole adjusting device according to the invention is assembled.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the said adjusting device comprises:

A box-like frame 8 having two side walls 108, 208, a bottom wall 9 and two front walls 10. Between the side walls 108, 208 a pivot pin 12 is journaled. On pin 12 the cam 11 is keyed. On the end of the pivot pin 12 which extends through wall 208, a sleeve 13 is keyed. The sleeve 13 extends through a coaxial sleeve 14, which is secured to the wall 108 of the box 8 of the device. On sleeve 14 a tubular member 15 is slidably mounted.

The said tubular member 15 comprises a body portion- 16 of cylindrical shape, with two flared diametrically opposed sides 116. The distance between inner sur faces of the flared sides 116 of body 16 is slightly greater than the outer diameter of sleeve 14. The said member 15 is further provided at its end facing the wall 208 with an annular flange 17 of a diameter equal to the diameter of the cylindrical portion of body 16, and at its other end it is provided with a cylindrical portion 18 having a diameter equal to the diameter of flange 17. The flange 17 is provided in the region of the flared portions 116 of body 16 with two diametrically opposed through borings 117, through which the screws 19 are guided. The said screws 19 are screwed into screw threaded borings formed in the wall 208 of the box 8.

At right angles to the screws 19, two guide pins 20.

are secured to the wall 208. The said pins 20 project sidewise from wall 208 inside of member 15 through a boring 21 formed in flange 17 and through the bored bottom of a cylindrical box 22 into alignment with the boring 21. A spring 23 is disposed between the bottom of box 22 and the wall 208, coaxially to pins 20.

In the cylindrical portion 18 of member 15 the cylindrical control head 24 is housed. The said head 24 is rotatably but not axially slidably supported. To this end, the head 24 is provided at its periphery with an annular groove 25. In portion 18 two parallel borings are formed, tangent to groove 25, and through said borings the two shanks of a U shaped cotter pin 26 are inserted. The head 24 is provided on its side directed toward the exterior of the device with a coin slot 27. To the opposite side of head 24 a shank 28 is coaxially secured. The shank 28 is provided with an outwardly projecting, longitudinally extending key 29, which meshes with a corresponding key groove 30 formed into coaxial sleeve 13.

Between walls 108 and 208 of box 8 a pin 31 is journalled, to which the lever arm 32 is fulcrumed by one end. The other end of the lever arm 32 is T shaped, and the transversal shank 33 of the said T shaped end is into sliding abutment with the lower side of the insole member 105, at the heel region of the boot.

The box like frame 8 is secured to the outsole by means of screws 34.

ASSEMBLING OF THE DESCRIBED DEVICE IN THE BOOT In assembling the desired device in the boot outsole, 5 prior to the formation of the boot, the following operational steps are performed.

The device is at first encased in the recess formed in the heel region of the core 3, and is secured to the core 3 by means of the fastening screws 34.

Thereafter it is necessary to adjust the lateral projection of member 15 from the box 8, in order that in the finished boot the head 18 be flush with the outer profile of the outsole.

To this end, the screws 19 are screwed (or un- 15 screwed) by the desired amount. By acting on the screws 19, the member 15 is telescoped on sleeve 14, against the action of springs 20. Once reached the desired adjustment, the outsole 2 is formed in conventional manner, by embeddying the core 3 into the outer matrix 4 of a suitable plastic material.

OPERATION OF THEDESCRIBED DEVICE In order to adjust the insole part to the desired height, it is only necessary to rotate the head 27 with a suitable tool (which may be a coin, for instance) in the desired direction. In the embodiment shown, a clockwise rotation of head 27 will lower the insole part 105, whilst an anticlockwise rotation will lift said part. The rotation of the head 27 is transmitted, through shaft 28, key 29, key groove 30, and sleeve 13 to pivot pin 12, and thus to cam 11. The rotation of cam 13 will confer a rocking motion to lever arm 32, around its fulcrum 31, and the said movement is transmitted by the arm 33 to the insole part 105.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SECOND EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In FIG. 5 a second embodiment of the invention is shown. According to the said embodiment, the sleeve 14 is formed with an external screw-thread, whilst the cylindrical body 16 of member 15 is formed with an inner screw-thread, and is screwed on sleeve 14. 35 is a clamping screw, which is screwed into a radial through bore of body 16. In order to adjust the lateral projection of member 15, the body 16 is screwed on sleeve 14, until the desired adjustment is reached. Thereafter, by screwing the screw 35, the parts are clamped into the desired mutual position.

The operation of the said device is the same as described with reference to the previous embodiment of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a ski boot comprising a boot upper, an outsole secured to said upper, a rigid insole hingedly connected near its toe end to said outsole, a lifting device built-in in the said outsole in the heel region thereof, the said lifting device comprising a rotatable cam cooperating with the said insole for lifting and lowering it, and manually operable rotary transmission means operatively connected at one end to said cam, and extending at the other end out to the outer peripheral side of the said outsole such that said other end is readily accessible when the boot outsole is bearing against a surface.

2. A ski boot according to claim 1, in which the said cam is in contact with the intermediate portion of a lever arm, one end of which arm is fulcrumed to a fixed part of the said device, whilst the other end is in sliding abutment with the said insole.

3. A ski boot according to claim 2, in which the said end of the said lever arm which isinto abutment with the insole is T shaped. I

4. A ski boot according to claim 1, in which the said cam is keyed on a pivot pin rotatably supported by one fixed part of the said device, and the said manually operable transmission means comprise a tubular sleeve keyed to one end of said pin, an operating shaft in engagement with said sleeve, the said shaft being axially slidable but non rotatable with respect to said sleeve, and manually operable control means connected to said shaft.

5. A ski boot according to claim 4, in which means are provided for axially adjusting said manually operable control means with respect to said sleeve.

6. In a ski boot comprising a boot upper, an outsole secured to said upper, a rigid insole hingedly connected near its toe end to said outsole, a lifting device built-in in said outsole in the heel region thereof, the said lifting device comprising a housing, a pivot pin rotatably supported by said housing, a cam keyed on said pivotpin, a lever arm journalled at one end in said housing, said lever arm being in contact with its intermediate portion with the said cam, and being further in sliding contact with its other end with the lower side of said insole, a first sleeve secured at one end to said pivot pin, a second sleeve secured at one end to said housing and encircling said first sleeve, and a third sleeve encircling said second sleeve and axially movable with respect to it, means for axially adjusting said third sleeve with re? spect to said second sleeve, said third sleeve housing at its free end a manually operable control head, said control head being housed in said sleeve in a rotatable but non axially slidable manner, a shaft secured centrally to said head and extending into said first sleeve, and means on said shaft and said first sleeve for coupling the said shaft and sleeve in an axially slidable but non rotatable manner.

7. A ski boot according to claim 6, in which the said means for axially adjusting said third sleeve with respect to said second sleeve are in the form of adjusting screws, connecting said third sleeve to said housing.

8. A ski boot according to claim 6, in which said third sleeve is provided with an internal screw thread, and is screwed to a corresponding external screw thread formed in said second sleeve.

9. A ski boot according to claim 1 wherein the rotational axis of said cam is generally parallel to the bottom surface of said outsole.

10. A ski boot according to claim 9 wherein the rotational axis of said rotary transmission means is generally parallel to the bottom surface of said outsole and oriented at a substantial angle relative to the fore-andperiphery of the outsole. 

1. In a ski boot comprising a boot upper, an outsole secured to said upper, a rigid insole hingedly connected near its toe end to said outsole, a lifting device built-in in the said outsole in the heel region thereof, the said lifting device comprising a rotatable cam cooperating with the said insole for lifting and lowering it, and manually operable rotary transmission means operatively connected at one end to said cam, and extending at the other end out to the outer peripheral side of the said outsole such that said other end is readily accessible when the boot outsole is bearing against a surface.
 2. A ski boot according to claim 1, in which the said cam is in contact with the intermediate portion of a lever arm, one end of which arm is fulcrumed to a fixed part of the said device, whilst the other end is in sliding abutment with the said insole.
 3. A ski boot according to claim 2, in which the said end of the said lever arm which is into abutment with the insole is T shaped.
 4. A ski boot according to claim 1, in which the said cam is keyed on a pivot pin rotatably supported by one fixed part of the said device, and the said manually operable transmission means comprise a tubular sleeve keyed to one end of said pin, an operating shaft in engagement with said sleeve, the said shaft being axially slidable but non rotatable with respect to said sleeve, and manually operable control means connected to said shaft.
 5. A ski boot according to claim 4, in which means are provided for axially adjusting said manually operable control means with respect to said sleeve.
 6. In a ski boot comprising a boot upper, an outsole secured to said upper, a rigid insole hingedly connected near its toe end to said outsole, a lifting device built-in in said outsole in the heel region thereof, the said lifting device comprising a housing, a pivot pin rotatably supported by said housing, a cam keyed on said pivot pin, a lever arm journalled at one end in said housing, said lever arm being in contact with its intermediate portion with the said cam, and being further in sliding contact with its other end with the lower side of said insole, a first sleeve secured at one end to said pivot pin, a second sleeve secured at one end to said housing and encircling said first sleeve, and a third sleeve encircling said second sleeve and axially movable with respect to it, means for axially adjusting said third sleeve with respect to said second sleeve, said third sleeve housing at its free end a manually operable control head, said control head being housed in said sleeve in a rotatable but non axially slidable manner, a shaft secured centrally to said head and extending into said first sleeve, and means on said shaft and said first sleeve for coupling the said shaft and sleeve in an axially slidable but non rotatable manner.
 7. A ski boot according to claim 6, in which the said means for axially adjusting said third sleeve with respect to said second sleeve are in the form of adjusting screws, connecting said third sleeve to said housing.
 8. A ski boot according to claim 6, in which said third sleeve is provided with an internal screw thread, and is screwed to a corresponding external screw thread formed in said second sleeve.
 9. A ski boot according to claim 1 wherein the rotational axis of said cam is generally parallel to the bottom surface of said outsole.
 10. A ski boot according tO claim 9 wherein the rotational axis of said rotary transmission means is generally parallel to the bottom surface of said outsole and oriented at a substantial angle relative to the fore-and-aft axis of said boot such that said other end thereof is readily accessible at one of the two lateral sides of the periphery of the outsole. 